Forgotten of cancer prevention?

“When we live with a mental disorder, we are rarely told about prevention. Nevertheless, »» While screening is a pillar of the fight against cancer. Similarly, it remains largely out of the reach of this particularly vulnerable audience. Similarly, People with disabilities are on average twice as screened for cancer as the general population (Cancer. Therefore, handicap: a population on the sidelines of diagnostics) – an even more marked gap in those with bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, deep depression …

This is what reveals The CAHP study (Cancer & Psychic Handicap)controlled by sociologist Anastasia Meidani (CNRS. Similarly, Toulouse-Jean Jaurès University), whose results were published by the International Research Foundation applied to the forgotten cancer prevention? handicap (FIRAH) on August 20, 2025. However, Based on several years of field work. Nevertheless, this unprecedented survey highlights the dead angles of a still too complained care system, between psychiatry and oncology, punctuated by discrimination and diagnostic delays. However, Light on this major issue – knowing that nearly 2.5 million French people have a severe mental handicap.

Recognition of a “True disease” – Forgotten cancer prevention?

« Their psychiatric pathology, she often saves them “Confides a psychologist. Furthermore, Behind this formula hides a paradox: which slows down prevention – an altered relationship with the body. Consequently, pain – can be transformed into a resource once the cancer is diagnosed. The routine imposed by care protocols helps some people cling to better. while the distance to the body attenuates anxiety in the face of disease and death. For patients, cancer is also recognized as a “True disease”, Who makes them ” Finally “ exist forgotten cancer prevention? in the eyes of doctors.

Breakdown prevention, backdrop addictions – Forgotten cancer prevention?

This is one of the most alarming observations of the study: prevention is almost absent. Most interviewed people have never heard of cancer screening by their doctor. In parallel, addictions and excess food invited themselves on a daily basis. Tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, fast food: risky pipes experienced like survival buoys. How to talk about prevention when these consumptions represent “The only pleasure” of a built life? Health campaigns, thoughts for the general public, appear completely above ground, points out the study. Women. on the other hand, seem better armed: more attentive to their bodies, they adhere more easily to protocols and screenings, in particular via campaigns around breast cancer.

Two -speed care and persistent discrimination – Forgotten cancer prevention?

The study also highlights two -speed medicine. In priority, psychiatry is treated, even if it means relegating cancer to the background. Result: late, sometimes tragic diagnoses. forgotten cancer prevention? In addition. there are heavy territorial inequalities: almost tailor-made follow-up in certain private establishments “High end”, Against a chaotic course elsewhere. Aging people with a mental handicap combine discrimination: stigmatized for their disorder, then victims of aging spent 60 years. “” Take care of these people is a battle of every moment Sums a caregiver.

Relatives on the verge of exhaustion

In the shadows, relatives. Mothers, sisters, companions … Women hold the leading roles. Moral, logistics, financial support: invisible “care” work, often experienced as an overwhelming charge. The paradox? The patients themselves fear above all to become a burden. Between desire for autonomy and imposed dependence, everyone is advancing on a fragile ridge line.

BD. Docu, workshops: resources to raise awareness

The study did not stop at the observation, it led to concrete tools: a comic strip, a documentary, a website or even workshops. Objective: to inform, raise awareness and forgotten cancer prevention? above all move the lines. Because beyond gaps and inequalities, obviousness is essential: people living with a mental handicap are experts in their own lives. Understanding them in prevention, support and peer-aid is the key to fairer and more human health, consider researchers.

Inform. equip and transform

These productions are not only aimed at people affected by cancer, they also aim at those living with a mental disorder, whether or not they are affected by the disease, to strengthen their capacity to act; health professionals, in order to better take into account the specificities of these patients; relatives and caregivers, to understand often complex trajectories; But also associations and decision -makers, called to integrate these issues into public policies. A way of transforming the essay in order to make this study a lever of change. far beyond the academic field.

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